Biologist Nicholas Fletcher Named Director of College Park Scholars–Life Sciences Program
Nicholas Fletcher, a lecturer in the University of Maryland’s Department of Biology, has been appointed director of the College Park Scholars–Life Sciences (Scholars-LS) program.
“We are delighted to welcome Nick Fletcher to College Park Scholars and Life Sciences. Nick is a creative and caring teacher whose commitments to hands-on learning and inclusive community align perfectly with core Scholars values,” said College Park Scholars Executive Director Marilee Lindemann. “We look forward to working with him to extend the proud legacy of Scholars Life Sciences in exciting new directions.”
The Scholars-LS program is one of the four founding programs in Scholars. Over the past 30 years, Scholars-LS has been a supportive living-learning community for first- and second-year undergraduates with broad interests in exploring life sciences themes more deeply. More than 2,000 undergraduates have participated in Scholars-LS, which combines coursework in the life sciences with special colloquia, a required research project or internship experience, and cocurricular scientific activities. The program has also offered travel-study short courses to Alaska, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Fletcher is the fourth director in the program’s history, following Lee Helman, Reid Compton and Beth Parent.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to help lead the Life Sciences program for College Park Scholars,” Fletcher said. “I look forward to meeting all our excellent students and working with the fantastic team that has helped make it a successful program. I am excited to continue the initiatives that have made it a valuable and supportive community for students during their time at UMD and to find engaging new directions to take the program.”
Fletcher is a broadly trained biologist and versatile teacher. He earned his bachelor’s degree in integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University. His broad research interest is to understand the evolutionary history and conservation of wild organisms, including speciation, conservation genomics and population genetics studies. In his research, he has used mitochondrial genome sequencing to understand the genetic structure of a population of fishes in the Atlantic Ocean, issues of geographic sampling and isolation in studies of speciation, the relationship of glacial cycles and speciation in field voles, and the demographic history and population structure in surf clams.
Fletcher is a highly effective and well-regarded teacher, noted for his clarity, engaging lectures, student access and sense of humor. At UMD, he has taught introductory courses in molecular and cellular biology (BSCI 170), organismal biology (BSCI 207) and evolution (BSCI 370) and co-taught a nonmajors course on human biological diversity (BSCI 151). Previously, he taught courses in vertebrate biology, a field course in ecology and conversation in Argentine Patagonia and a unique writing course for science majors in the Galápagos Islands. Fletcher has also mentored undergraduates in research and serves as an undergraduate academic advisor in UMD’s biological sciences undergraduate program.
